Coralife lights enough for 1 anemone?

[Roly]

I have a 110 gal tank. I have wet/dry, 2 Rio 800 power heads, Octopus 110 Skimmer, LifeGard UV Sterilizer, Live rock, 1 Flame Angelfish, and 1 Basslet.
OK now after all that my question is... I have Coralife 130 Wt. 50/50's. Is this enough to have an anemone? Do I need to upgrade my lights? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[prbhasson]

You definately would have to upgrade your lights to at least VHO or Metal Halide. Also, How long has you tank been up and running? Your tank should be at least a year old and have stable parameters before trying an anenome...

 

[Roly]

My tank has only been running for a few months. I pretty much wanted it so that I could have the "clown/anemone" thing going in my tank. I figured I would have to upgrade my lights though. Thanks for the info

 

[ronj]

yep, you will definately need to upgrade the lights!! how is that skimmer working out for you???

 

[Roly]

Skimmer is GREAT!!!! i cant say enough about it

 

[BCT182]

I think I should jump in on this one. 130 watts of what? N.O. florescent is less intense than P.C.'s or VHO's and they all are less intense than halides, and HQI's are even brighter than single end bulbs.

I think appropriate question's would be how deep or shallow is your tank, what kind of lighting do you have? What type of anemone do you wish to keep?

If you have 65 Watt x 2 power compact lights, I've seen it done before. I had a rose bubble under 55watt x 2 p.c.'s in a 55 gallon. If your tank is a 110 tall, I wouldn't think its a good idea, but if its fatter and wider, a RBTA might be just fine.

 

[Slickdonkey]

Personally I think halides are the way to go with anemones. They may survive under PC's but while in my QT (2x65W PC 10Ks) my RBTA wouldn't color up and spent a lot of its time attached to the side of the glass up at the top of tank to be closer to the lights.

Check out this Anemone FAQ.

Also cover those powerheads if any, trust me on this one.

 

[MikeS]

PC's are pretty intense as far as flourescent lights go (more intense watt for watt than VHO, and as intense as T5's) , but there are still some questions as to their spectral qualities compared to MH, VHO and T5 lighting, and with only 2 65W PC bulbs over a tank as deep as yours, you'll likely not have sufficient PAR to keep anemones alive long term. In a deeper tank, you really can't beat the water penetrating abilites of metal halide lighting.

Anemones are kinda tricky critters to maintain long term. Most have light needs as high or higher than SPS or tridacnid clams. They also have high water quality needs. There are some "acceptions" to that, namely the RTBA's, particularly the tank raised ones. They seem to be more tolerent of lower light conditions and water quality than many other species. However, the more ideal environment you can provide them, the better off they will be.
I noticed you mentioned a wet/dry filter setup. While the W/D is acceptable for fish-only or fish with live rock setups...it is less than ideal for reef setups. The main reason is that the highly oxygenated area of the filter in many cases converts waste into nitrate at an accelerated rate, causing a build-up of nitrate in the tank. This can be problematic when dealing with sensitive invertebrates like corals and anemones.

If you want to keep anemones long term, I'd recommend looking at a light upgrade and also removing the "dry" part of your W/D filter....

hope this helps...

MikeS

 

[Roly]

Thanks everyone. Good Stuff!